We continue to make progress. Behind the scenes our bill continues to move forward daily, and we have been delaying updating you because each day we are hopeful to have some definitive news to share. It hasn’t materialized yet so here is a quick update to fill you all in where we stand today:
- The language of our correction has been revised to address the concerns in complying with the Federal Internet Tax Freedom Act.
- We are confident we have now passed that hurdle in Trenton
- We are now waiting on a fiscal impact report from the state.
We are confident that they will determine there will be a negligible impact to the state budget because direct “rent by owner” transactions will turn to real estate brokers whose bookings are exempt from paying the new taxes. The state will not receive this tax revenue! This “conversion” of a tax to a commission will still be passed on to NJ Vacationers by the owners to cover the Realtor’s commissions and fees, further negatively affecting our precious shore economy.
Therefore, we believe that if this unintended tax is not corrected RIGHT NOW, not only will we lose vacationers to states further down the coast, but those that still stay in Jersey will spend substantially less money at our local businesses (restaurants, stores, attractions), further exacerbating the need for tax revenues. We are hopeful that the legislature will be considering this legislation VERY SOON in order to salvage this summer rental season.
What can you do? Put the pressure on! This is the month to be heard again! Please see our call to action on the home page and take action! TOGETHER we have made a lot of progress and TOGETHER we WILL get this correction!
PLEASE call in to the Governor’s and Legislative Leadership radio shows and PLEASE attend one of the Senate President’s upcoming town hall meetings. Information about where, when and how can be found by CLICKING HERE. If you are on Facebook, please LIKE our page and RSVP to our events that you plan to attend to show your support!
The fact that if a person rents their home through a realtor does not save the homeowner any money. The commission a realtor charges is astronomical and the homeowner who uses a realtor is still paying a huge amount of money to the realtors. It is also not democratic to tax one group of people who use the internet to rent their home and those people who rent their home thru a realtor do not pay a tax. The realtor group must have a huge lobby and they are angry that they have competition to rent homes. Remove this tax!!! Also as mentioned, vacationers will go elsewhere and if they do come to NJ, they will spend less. Trenton should learn how to live within their means and not just raise taxes for the foolish ways they spend money!!! In the fall I called many legislators and not one office called me back!!! The democrats are the ones to blame!!!